Gizmodo: solar car

The Fastest Solar Car on the Planet

Mark Wilson — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 17:00:00 EST

In the most recent World Solar Challenge, a Japanese team upset the former 4-time Dutch champs to win the 1,864-mile solar car race across Australia with the vehicle you see here.

The Tokai Challenger completed the journey in 29 hours and 49 minutes despite a flat tire—that's an average speed of about 63mph. That's actually not the best time in history. That Dutch team we mentioned above achieved the current record back in 2005—29 hours and 11 minutes. But obviously conditions like sunlight and wind can skew these numbers on a year to year comparison basis. [Global Green Challenge via Wired via Engadget]

UPDATE: Reader Stephen gives us another reason for the recently slower times:
"A major reason why the Nuna team from 2005 holds the time record is because there were no speed limits in the Northern Territory of Australia before January 2007. Now the speed limit in the Northern Territory is 130km/h (81mph). In the race there are time penalties for breaking the speed limit. I know this because I was a member of the University of Waterloo's solar car team that raced in Australia in 2007."

Toyota Developing Solar-Powered Car?

Mark Wilson — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 13:30:00 EST

According to The Nikkei, Toyota is working on more than just a Prius with a solar panel to run the A/C. They are designing a completely solar-powered car...though they intend to cheat a bit.

Nikkei explains that following their first operating loss in 70 years, Toyota wants to make an aggressive move in the market with a solar car. But to make it work with current solar efficiency, some of the car's energy comes from solar panels on the vehicle, but some of the energy also comes from solar panels on one's house. (Does that imply it'll plug in to the wall as well, sans solar?)

According to the report, Toyota also hopes to release a real 100% solar car (not needing the house part) in the future. And we hope so, just to watch all those haughty Prius owners be usurped. [AP via Jalopnik]

World's Ugliest Car Gets Unsurprisingly High Gas Mileage

Mark Wilson — Mon, 31 Dec 2007 08:52:30 EST

Note to automakers: cars of the future are meant to be fierce. Sure, they may get the equivalent of 100mpg through electric efficiency, but they'd better look like they can decapitate onlookers during the morning commute. This new solar vehicle (that's still missing a sexy name) may be by the makers of champion solar race cars, but it looks like a jerky golf cart. Then again, any car capable of 44mph speeds for three hours at a time—that runs on nothing but the sun—has our ears perked.

Designed for the streets of Taiwan, the car uses a airplane-grade Nomex honeycomb body that makes it just 550lbs with seats. The light weight brings efficiency, so much so, in fact, that the developers claim that the car just needs a few hours of sunlight to recharge its batteries for another 3 hours of driving. But we'll admit it—with a solar panel that tiny on top of the car, we can't help but be a little skeptical about that figure.

Then again, for its groundbreakingly low $24,600 price tag, we'll be willing to give it a chance over this more expensive, equally hideous alternative. [taipeitimes via treehugger]